RSS Feeds:(FYI) 4 Your Information

RSS Information

What is RSS?

RSS feeds, sometimes known as Really Simple Syndication, is a popular means of sharing content (such as news headlines) without requiring readers to constantly re-visit a Web site to see what's new. RSS feeds contain headlines and hyperlinks to longer articles or Web pages.

An RSS news feed is a list of topics which is made available from a web site, using RSS. To read the feed, the user installs a newsreader and enters the URL for the news feed. RSS news feeds are a replacement for email newsletters. Eventually, everyone will be reading their news via an RSS news aggregator.

This way you have full control on what you will receive, without the need for visiting web-sites. The RSS way of reading news also helps to protect you from spam, because you can keep your email address private.

How do I start using RSS feeds?

Choose a Feed Type

The first thing you need is the News Reader (also known as a News Aggregator). News readers download and display RSS feeds for you. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. All allow you to display and subscribe to the RSS feeds you want.

The google reader is a Web-based RSS feed readers. Users can subscribe to as many RSS feeds as they want, then browse them in a lean and simplistic two-pane story browser that feels a little bit like Gmail.

RSS feeds give users a visually simplified version of Web content. In addition to photos and text, Readers will also display embedded video clips from several popular services.

Users of RSS can set a "feed reader" or "aggregator" to check RSS-enabled web pages like the ones below and get automatic displays of new articles or action alerts. Many large and small web sites and blogs offer RSS as a way for readers to stay up to date.

Web-based feed readers and news aggregators require no software installation and make the user's "feeds" available on any computer with web access.